He was a strange man.

　His first words were, "An assassin?　Hmmm," which is a very disarming thing.

　A knightly, dignified woman named Sylvia and an immensely beautiful man with a lovely beastly girl named Eco as his companion.

　I became his slave.

A former assassin who was added to my contract to make me "unattackable". If you wonder what he's going to do with such a useless item, he says, "I want you to become a blacksmith".

　Not a s*x slave. Not a housekeeper. A blacksmith.

　I don't know what that means.


　On the road to the town of Pejo, he talks to me about a lot of things.

　Does he have a family? What are your hobbies? What do you do on your days off? What are your skills?

　I couldn't answer properly.

　Lady Lucia, the orphan who was picked up by the late Duke. That's who I am.

　I don't have a name. If I had to choose, I would say 'Shadow'. I was raised as an assassin from an early age.

　I have no family. I don't have any hobbies. I don't have a day off. My specialty is assassination.

　I couldn't tell you.

　I'm just a slave, now that I'm named Yukari.


"Can I ask you about your past?

　When he asked me that, I was upset.

　I don't want to say it. I thought instantly.

　What happened in the past? Why was Lady Lucia the only one executed and I was spared? If I revealed that, they would surely change their view. I know that there is nothing I can do about it. It leaves an indelible lump in my heart, and I continue to be haunted by the enormous unreasonableness of the situation.

　It's useless to say it. Then it's better not to say anything.

　So I hide it. And then I put on my shell again. I draw a line with them, a bland slave, and go about my life in a clerical manner.

　It's useless to have my thoughts. While killing my mind like that.



　　* * * *.



We should put a team together.

　We were all sitting around our desks and finishing our dinner.
　I declared on a high note.

'This is it,'
Yeah!

　Sylvia and Eco nodded in a spirited manner.

'Team, sir?'

　Yukari is tilting her head.
　You didn't tell Yukari what we're up to in the first place.

"I want to be number one in the world. I want to be number one in the world, and Silvia and Eco here are my friends who can help me with that. Yukari, I need your help too.
'I am my master's slave. If I can help you, of course I will, but ...... the world's number one?

　Yukari's doubts seemed to deepen.

'You're number one in the world. Do you know what that means?
Yeah.
Are you kidding me?
Yeah.

　No, I don't believe this guy at all.

　Yukari's cold expression and zit eyes pierce me with a gust of wind.
　But as a byproduct, I was able to draw out the "dumbfounded" emotion. If we let our emotions come out little by little like this, we may eventually be able to open up to each other. Let's keep at it. Let's just get on with it. ......

"Second-dono. I've been wondering for a long time, how do you make that world number one dream come true?

　Sylvia asked me a question to follow up.

'Good question, Sylvia Virginia,'
Why your full name: ......
Wah-dnia.
It's Virginia, Eco!
Wah-dnia.
...... ver.
Wah-di-ni-ah!
All right, that's it.

　So you're okay with that, you ......, but you were talking about how to be the best in the world.

　Well, there are a lot of things, but that one is the most obvious of them all?

'If you're talking about how to be number one in the world as an individual, it's simple.'
Simple?
'Yeah. Win all the skill titles and keep defending the titles. That is, as long as we don't lose the title fight.
............ What?

　Sylvia opened her mouth with a pout and froze.

'Title' - that's the pinnacle of each skill.

　Let's take 【Artsmanship】 as an example to explain. There are nine different skills in 【Artsmanship】, ranging from 《Infantry Archery》 to 《Dragon King Archery》. In order to get the title of 【Bowsmanship】, you must first raise all of these nine skills to the ninth level. That's the first condition.

　The second condition is to participate in and win the title fight, which is held every six months. The title tournament is a tournament-style "game" in which players who meet the first condition participate to win the title.

　If a player fulfills the second condition, he or she is given the right to challenge the current title holder. If you defeat the current titleholder there, you will be granted the title in Kyujutsu.

　The other way to win the title is to be the first to fulfill the first condition in the server or to defend the title. Hence, it is not possible for more than one person to hold the same title.

　In other words, the title is the pinnacle of the skill, and is the most powerful title in both name and reality.

　To win it in every skill - that's a pretty straightforward way to do it.

　Of course, conquering all the titles is enough to win the world's top spot, but I don't think that's enough to make you the world's number one. Mevion's World Ranking has a number of other criteria, and a hierarchy is created based on all of them.
　But the only clear goal is to win all the titles.

You know the title fight, right?
'Oh, oh, of course!　Is the Second Lord going to be on that stage?　With all those skills too!
　Sylvia gets excited and stands up and says, "You're number one in the world, of course.

'We're number one in the world, of course we are.
No, I don't--

Impossible.

　Yukari interrupted me and Sylvia's argument.

　Just one word, in a cold voice, clearly.

What did you just say?
I told you it wasn't possible, Master.

　When I asked her back, Yukari said that matter-of-factly.
　The air in the place is tense.

'What makes you think that?'
'It's only natural. People can't be that strong.
That's not a good enough reason. What makes you think that?
It's ......, so it's that strong.
On what basis?
............

　When I questioned her, Yukari shut down.

　I don't know why. But one thing I do know is that she's angry.

I thought it was best not to speak too ...... frivolously.
'Don't miss the point. Tell me why you think that. Why can't you be strong?
Why?" ......
People can't be that strong. How so?
Oh, of course.
So what makes you think that?

That was me. ......!

　Yukari raised her voice and...

............ No, it's nothing. I'll leave you to it.

　She instantly regained her composure and fled back to her room at the inn.

　What was the rest of her words? Considering his position as an assassin and the circumstances of not being given a name, the answer came to me vaguely.

　Perhaps Yukari was not raised as a "person" from an early age. Being an assassin is probably such a tough job. That's why I know. She knows how hard it is to be "strong". I know how hard it is to be strong. And I know how difficult it is to "beat others" and how fragile it is.

　That's why I was angry at him for being so frivolous.

　I'm with you. If it weren't for me.


"I'm afraid it's not safe, Miss Yukari.

　Sylvia says. It's certainly a close call. She raises her voice in that scene and swallows immediately afterwards. What does this mean? It's an outburst of pent up emotions and an out-of-the-ordinary self-control that exceeds that.

'You're mentally unstable. Maybe it's only natural, given that you were shoved into a slave shop all the time until I bought it, but ...... you still have to discipline yourself that much.
I guess it's something like ......, where you're dying to say something, but you're forcing yourself to hold it back.
Are you dying to tell me?
'It looks that way to me. What did you think, Lord Second?
I thought I was ...... scared. That people would know my secrets.

　When I said that, Sylvia laughed with amusement, "Hmph.

What?
'No, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make fun of you.

　He apologizes, then continues, "Only," he says, "Only.

'Women are often two conflicting emotions.

　Maybe both of them were right, he thought.

　Sylvia said briskly, and returned to her room, carrying a half-asleep Eco back to her room.

　This was the first time I'd ever met Sylvia and felt she was cool, but the static electricity from the paper napkin sticking to Sylvia's ass as she left ...... forced me to change my mind.



　The next morning.
　We were riding our horses to the C grade dungeon "Asiasparn", which is about 15 minutes east of the town of Pehoe.

　Why would we head to the C grade dungeon after all this time? It was because of the 'Team Formation'.

　In order to form a team, he had to complete the Team Formation Quest. The content of the quest is to clear the third grade dungeon with at least three members who wish to form a team. It's a very easy quest, as it can be done in any grade C dungeon.
　Well, to tell the truth, there are many other complicated conditions, such as clearing the dungeon within two hours or clearing it completely, but we don't need to worry about that right now, so I'll leave it at that.

　The most efficient way to earn experience is to go around the Limpophart dungeon at the moment, so we were planning to stay in Pehoe town for a while. Hence, I thought, "I'll just get it done in the near future," and headed to the Asiasparun Dungeon.


　And we arrived there.

　A large cave that opened its mouth on a rocky hill in the forest.

　It's a grade C dungeon that I haven't dived into in a long time. Among them, I've only been to the Asiasparun dungeon once a long time ago.


　...... At this time, I had forgotten all about it.

I'm not sure I've ever seen it before.